I wanted to install Endeavour OS on my old Alienware M11xR1. Somehow I can’t get the nVidia graphics driver to work properly (nvidia gt335m).
I have now reinstalled Endeavour OS for the third time because I kept having problems with the driver installation.
My wishful thinking: if possible, I would simply run the nvidia graphics card (discrete in the BIOS), as with Win10, because the Intel does not support hardware decoding for HD videos and is generally very rudimentary.
The laptop was delivered without nvidia Optimus and you had to switch between the graphics chipsets manually using the FN key. (I think this is where the worm is buried). With Windows, however, it was enough to simply install a current nvidia driver and the nvidia graphics then ran permanently.
Previously I had installed the nvidia 340xx driver under Endavour OS. That also worked. Unfortunately, the resolution was then limited to 640x480 and I could not select any other resolution. The screen was recognised as “Unknown-1” and I could not add a resolution with xrandr.
So I tried again and the Optimus Switch. Here, however, the laptop gets stuck at Graphical Interface when booting and no setting in the BIOS made it boot.
Now I’m on the third installation and hoping for the community. I don’t know which instructions to follow anymore
If it were possible to switch the graphics, it would be great, but a permanently running nvidia graphics with the correct screen resolution would be enough for me (I would set the permanently running fans again using the fan tool, with Windows it was always HWInfo).
Can you tell me the best way to proceed or which method might work?
I suggest running this, to detect, and recommend what drivers you might install. This won’t actually perform an install, it is in test mode only. Please share the output:
So I reinstalled Endeavour OS and then I set the graphics to “discrete” in the BIOS and was now, for whatever reason, set the correct resolution.
I also noticed that the video acceleration now works, which is actually enough for me. However, after a few minutes of use, Caps-Lock flashes and the whole system freezes.
I have now executed the command:
nvidia-inst -t
It returns “command not found”.
yay nvidia-inst -t
yields “invalid option -t”
System runs on Wayland (nothing was set from my side).
It’s odd that wasn’t on there by default, but you’re not the first person I’ve encountered where that’s happened
To install it, the correct command would be:
yay -S nvidia-inst
But that said, if the graphics are working, maybe leave it alone. You might share the output of this, so we can see what drivers you’re actually using perhaps:
inxi -G
yay -Q | grep nvidia
The caps-lock issue is obviously concerning. Is that the first time that has happened?
You might consider running a memory test, like Memtest86+, to confirm your memory isn’t the culprit.
I also had flashing capslock yesterday with Manjaro and KaOS. I replaced the RAM yesterday and checked it with Memtest. However, there was no error.
I can’t remember having this error with Intel graphics under Linux.
When I successfully installed the nvidia driver on Endeavour OS once (but couldn’t change the resolution), I didn’t have the error. If I remember correctly, the system did not run with Wayland either.
You need to install the 340.xx drivers from the AUR. You have the choice of using the dkms version also from the AUR. Currently your laptop is rendering on nouveau open source driver.
Since the nouveau driver can probably use video acceleration, that would be enough for me in principle. Unfortunately, as already mentioned, I get system freezes (flashing caps lock).
If I switch to the Intel card in the BIOS, everything works fine, but I can’t even watch YouTube at 480p smoothly and graphics on pages load more slowly. With the nvidia it goes up to 720p, which would be enough for the old system.
I loaded the session with X11 and the nvidia card earlier and the system stopped loading the desktop and hung up.
What should I do now?
Install the nvidia driver 340xx (I would have to do this with the Intel graphics so that the system doesn’t hang up again) and then start the session with X11 instead of Wayland.
Or, if possible, see why the system hangs under Wayland with the Nouveau driver, should this be possible.
Run the test as @Bink said. You need to install nvidia-inst if it’s not installed. Then run the test and post the output.
nvidia-inst -t
Edit:
Keep in mind you have a hybrid laptop so in order to render from the nvidia gpu you have to switch to it using what ever method works for this particular laptop otherwise it’s always rendering on the intel gpu.
Edit: Your output shows it rendering on nouveau (NVA3)
I think there’s a chance that your card is so old that the proprietary driver is no more compatible with the other software. That would mean nouveau (which you seem to have now) is the only way to go.
But to test this, you need to install the correct version of the Nvidia driver. And possibly try with x11 since version 340 seems not to support wayland.
So you could try something like:
yay -Syu nvidia-340xx-dkms
and also make sure to have package linux-headers installed.
You might need to install libxnvctrl-340xx too.
Note that reboot is required after installing such drivers.
Also, better check what nvidia related packages you have installed already, they might conflict with the 340 series:
So, I installed the nvidia driver. Seems to have worked in itself. However, the resolution is limited to 640x480 and I can’t select any other.
I had already started a session with X11 and it was the same there.
A great source of information is https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA (and its related articles) but it might not resolve your issue. To my understanding, it suggests using nouveau instead, which you already had. Unfortunately nouveau may not support all features you’d want to use, but it (mostly) works.
For the record, could you show the output of command
Nouveau would be perfectly adequate. However, I always got system freezes or kernel panics there.
With the nvidia driver the system runs stable, but the resolution is not adjustable.
Editing Grub made no difference. The port of the laptop’s screen has the name “Unknown-1” in Wayland and “None-1” in X11.
I had already tried to add the resolutions with addmode and newmode in X11. But the output does not work.
